About My Work
Final Portfolio
The blog entries i included to my final portfolio are both from the book The Forever War. The reason why I chose these article is because I really enjoyed reading the book. It really opened my eyes to a truth that i had not realized. I believe these two blog post are a good example of my ability to analyze the text and reflect on what I personally thought.
For the first feature article I chose to write about Stephanie Wright who sustained a serious injury after a cheering accident. I am not sure why but I had a tough time figuring out what I was going to write about and how I was going to write it and that is why I think my first draft that I handed in was such a mess. To fix my feature I got ride of the whole "Worth the Risk" angle and decided to focus just on Stephanie and her life. I interviewed her best friend as well as a fellow cheerleader to really understand the cheerleading life as well as how others viewed Stephanie. I feel that this made the feature stronger and allowed for Stephanie's story to be the main focus. Stephanie is one of the strongest people I know and I just hope I did justice to her story.
For the second feature article I chose to write about St. Peters Greasy Pole. The reason why I chose to write about the Greasy Pole was because I grew up watching and celebrating the St. Peters Fiesta with my family and the traditions of the weekend is something that I care about. The changes that I made to my article were not much. I added interviews and a couple rules as well as the ending which I did not have when we did our workshop in class. I feel that the interviews give the article the information it needed and the pictures I added to the web page really help give it something more. Although the Greasy Pole is not a hard concept to understand it is very unique and without pictures there can be some confusion.
As I had stated at the middle of our course this is the first experience I have ever had with writing outside of the classroom. I have to say that I enjoyed the class a lot and it has done so much for me. Taking me outside of my comfort zone and putting me in a place to actually start writing has really made me think about what I want to do when I finish college. Although I dont think it will be in journalism it may have something to do with writing. While writing my feature articles I grew even more as a writer and I put as much of myself into my writing as I could hoping I do justice to everything I write about. I feel that my writing have vastly improved since I started taking this class considering I came in with no experience at all. Over all I want to say that this class has been a tremendous help for me in developing my writing skills. I am a very personal person but taking this class has helped me come out of my shell and explore a new frontier. I just want to thank you for inspiring me to pick up a pen and not be intimidated by the white page.
Mid-Year Portfolio
Throughout this first half of our semester I have seen my writing evolve more than it ever has before. This is mainly due to the fact that I have never written anything like this before and by allowing myself to be taken out of my comfort zone I have grown as a writer. I have been able to bring myself into my writing when before i was forced to take myself out. By doing this my writing has become more personal and in a sense more fun to accomplish.
The blog entries I have chosen to put on my portfolio show my ability to analyze text and show a deeper understanding of the writing. In the Forever War as I have stated in my blog is a collection of stories of one mans experience and a journalistic coraspondent in Iraq and Afghanistan. His ability to focus on the story and not influence the reader in anyway allows his stories to tell the truth instead of forcing the truth on the reader and I feel my blog posts convey this about him.
The revisions I have made to both of my assignments have greatly benefited them into letting them grow. In my assignment The Story Without a Voice I had originality cut the paper short to fit into the allotted page requirement so the ending was quick and brief leaving out the emotional damage Karen felt after 9/11 but by adding her experiences I was not only able to make the article longer but I was also able to make it more complete. In The Unknown Team I was able to go more in depth with what makes Rugby so addictive to these women who play and just the overall physical aspect to the game.
As a reader/writer this semester I feel that I have grown more than I have the past couple of years. By taking this class I am finally able to start something I have always wanted to try but never had the courage to attempt. I hope to be able to grow and by the end of this semester I hope to have gained some experience in journalism to take with me into other classes and maybe even into life.
The blog entries i included to my final portfolio are both from the book The Forever War. The reason why I chose these article is because I really enjoyed reading the book. It really opened my eyes to a truth that i had not realized. I believe these two blog post are a good example of my ability to analyze the text and reflect on what I personally thought.
For the first feature article I chose to write about Stephanie Wright who sustained a serious injury after a cheering accident. I am not sure why but I had a tough time figuring out what I was going to write about and how I was going to write it and that is why I think my first draft that I handed in was such a mess. To fix my feature I got ride of the whole "Worth the Risk" angle and decided to focus just on Stephanie and her life. I interviewed her best friend as well as a fellow cheerleader to really understand the cheerleading life as well as how others viewed Stephanie. I feel that this made the feature stronger and allowed for Stephanie's story to be the main focus. Stephanie is one of the strongest people I know and I just hope I did justice to her story.
For the second feature article I chose to write about St. Peters Greasy Pole. The reason why I chose to write about the Greasy Pole was because I grew up watching and celebrating the St. Peters Fiesta with my family and the traditions of the weekend is something that I care about. The changes that I made to my article were not much. I added interviews and a couple rules as well as the ending which I did not have when we did our workshop in class. I feel that the interviews give the article the information it needed and the pictures I added to the web page really help give it something more. Although the Greasy Pole is not a hard concept to understand it is very unique and without pictures there can be some confusion.
As I had stated at the middle of our course this is the first experience I have ever had with writing outside of the classroom. I have to say that I enjoyed the class a lot and it has done so much for me. Taking me outside of my comfort zone and putting me in a place to actually start writing has really made me think about what I want to do when I finish college. Although I dont think it will be in journalism it may have something to do with writing. While writing my feature articles I grew even more as a writer and I put as much of myself into my writing as I could hoping I do justice to everything I write about. I feel that my writing have vastly improved since I started taking this class considering I came in with no experience at all. Over all I want to say that this class has been a tremendous help for me in developing my writing skills. I am a very personal person but taking this class has helped me come out of my shell and explore a new frontier. I just want to thank you for inspiring me to pick up a pen and not be intimidated by the white page.
Mid-Year Portfolio
Throughout this first half of our semester I have seen my writing evolve more than it ever has before. This is mainly due to the fact that I have never written anything like this before and by allowing myself to be taken out of my comfort zone I have grown as a writer. I have been able to bring myself into my writing when before i was forced to take myself out. By doing this my writing has become more personal and in a sense more fun to accomplish.
The blog entries I have chosen to put on my portfolio show my ability to analyze text and show a deeper understanding of the writing. In the Forever War as I have stated in my blog is a collection of stories of one mans experience and a journalistic coraspondent in Iraq and Afghanistan. His ability to focus on the story and not influence the reader in anyway allows his stories to tell the truth instead of forcing the truth on the reader and I feel my blog posts convey this about him.
The revisions I have made to both of my assignments have greatly benefited them into letting them grow. In my assignment The Story Without a Voice I had originality cut the paper short to fit into the allotted page requirement so the ending was quick and brief leaving out the emotional damage Karen felt after 9/11 but by adding her experiences I was not only able to make the article longer but I was also able to make it more complete. In The Unknown Team I was able to go more in depth with what makes Rugby so addictive to these women who play and just the overall physical aspect to the game.
As a reader/writer this semester I feel that I have grown more than I have the past couple of years. By taking this class I am finally able to start something I have always wanted to try but never had the courage to attempt. I hope to be able to grow and by the end of this semester I hope to have gained some experience in journalism to take with me into other classes and maybe even into life.